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Bookreporter.com Newsletter |
April 15, 2016 |
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Kicking it Back a Notch...or Did I?
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Last Friday/Saturday, my body battery ran down, and I kicked it back a few notches, vowing to give in to being tired and just take it easy. I reached for a book that I have been hearing a lot about, I LET YOU GO by Clare Mackintosh, which will be in stores on May 3rd. I see why it’s getting buzz; it has one of the most perfect twists that I have read. Here’s the plot: A young boy is killed by a hit-and-run driver as he is walking home from school with his mother. Who was behind the wheel? The action moves from page one and does not stop --- really fine plotting. When one is not moving like I was for those 48 hours, it’s wonderful when the storyline gallops away.
Making the most of my couch time, I also finished watching season two of "Bosch." And then I was happy to find an interview with Michael Connelly and actor Titus Welliver, who stars as Harry Bosch, which was taped at the LA Times Festival of Books. On Saturday night, I caught an interview with James Rollins and Gregg Hurwitz on PBS. The complete list of PBS programming from the Festival is here. These interviews were taped beyond the regular programming available at the Festival and give you an opportunity to get a glimpse of the excitement of the weekend.
Above, you can see a photo of Kathy Jund, one of our readers, who is a loyal Festival attendee. She is pictured with author Mary Kubica, whose DON’T YOU CRY will be in stores on May 17th. I had fun following Kathy's and her daughter Amber’s photo and written coverage of the Festival on Facebook all weekend, as well as dipping into the PBS pieces.
On Wednesday night, I headed down to Chinatown for an event to meet Jade Chang, the author of THE WANGS VS. THE WORLD, which is coming out on October 4th. I have been working in New York for almost 40 years, but I can count on three fingers the number of times that I have been to Chinatown. The event was in a restaurant whose signage was as unassuming as most in that area...as in, I walked by it twice! Jade is enthusiastic, fun and funny. Her inspiration for the book came from an over-the-top party that she attended in August 2008 for the launch of Trump’s Dubai Hotel. As she enjoyed that celebrity-filled evening with fireworks and iPod Touches as goody bag prizes, she wondered what would happen if all of this excess crumbled away. She was not wrong as September 2008 brought a meltdown of the market.
The plot of her book is about a wealthy Chinese businessman who lives in the States and loses it all in the financial crisis. He plucks his family from their foreclosed Bel Air home and packs them onto a cross-country trip to hide out with a family member in upstate New York in a plot that sounds hilarious. A few weeks ago, a reader wrote to ask me for a recommendation for a funny book, and I confessed I was coming up empty on anything new and humorous. THE WANGS VS. THE WORLD may be what I have been looking for. Anyone else reading anything funny?
Greg has his first book credit as his photo of Point Bonita Lighthouse was included in THE LIGHTHOUSE HANDBOOK: West Coast. I love it, and I was there when he took that shot, which makes this even more special.
Talking to kids, teens and twentysomethings about their ideas of what they want to be when they grow up, I hear “I want to be an entrepreneur” a lot. A few weeks ago, I saw a TEDTalk featuring then-13-year-old Maya S. Penn and her eco-friendly clothing and accessory company, Maya’s Ideas. I was intrigued by her and the fabulous scarf she was wearing. Watching the TEDTalk, I was amazed at her poise and her confidence. She is now 16 and has written a book for tweens and teens called YOU GOT THIS!: Unleash Your Awesomeness, Find Your Path, and Change Your World, which just released this week.
It’s a guide to identifying creative personality and using it to make your ideas become reality. The book would be perfect for any budding entrepreneurs you know. The prologue alone is worth reading, as she describes her emotions before she walked on stage to give that talk; it showed me that she was questioning herself in that moment, which is refreshing! And then she nailed her performance. We have a contest where you can win a copy of this book. Read on below for more about this. You can wow your budding entrepreneur with it.
Now to this week’s update…
THE VERSIONS OF US by Laura Barnett, which will be available on May 3rd, is the latest title in our Women’s Fiction Author Spotlight. I had the pleasure of meeting Laura at a luncheon earlier this year where she described writing this three-plot story. Only one thing is certain in this debut novel: Two people met on a Cambridge street by chance and felt a connection that would last a lifetime. But what happened next? Barnett explores three possibilities here in three completely different story threads. What impressed me? Laura did not write each story and then weave them together. She wrote them all chronologically. I kept thinking of the movie Sliding Doors as I read it. We’re giving away 25 copies of the book to those who would like to read and comment on it. To enter, please fill out this form by Thursday, April 28th at noon ET.
Pulitzer Prize winner Anna Quindlen explores the meaning of family and home in MILLER’S VALLEY. The novel follows Mimi Miller, who tells about her life, from the 1960s to the present. As she eavesdrops on her parents and quietly observes the people around her, she discovers more and more about the toxicity of family secrets, the dangers of gossip, the flaws of marriage, the inequalities of friendship, and the risks of passion, loyalty and love. Home, as Mimi begins to realize, can be “a place where it’s just as easy to feel lost as it is to feel content.”
Reviewer Eileen Zimmerman Nicol calls MILLER’S VALLEY “refreshingly old-fashioned, linear and fully realized. Mimi is a wonderful vehicle for Quindlen’s knack for astute observations…. Readers who share [an] affinity for their childhood home will especially appreciate this emotionally powerful tale of family and place.”
Edgar Award-winning author Lisa Scottoline returns with her latest thriller, MOST WANTED. When a woman and her husband, desperate for a baby, find themselves unable to conceive, they decide to do so through a donor. And all seems to be well. Three months pass, and she is happily pregnant. But a shocking revelation occurs when she discovers that a man arrested for a series of brutal murders could be her donor --- the biological father of the child she is carrying.
Sarah Rachel Egelman has our review and says, “MOST WANTED moves fast. It is, for the most part, emotionally driven, but there is plenty of action as well, especially at the dramatic and violent climax.” We recently posted a discussion guide for the book on ReadingGroupGuides.com, which you can see here. And we have a video of Lisa discussing MOST WANTED and explaining why she thinks it's the perfect book club selection; click here to watch the clip.
Leila Meacham, the beloved author of ROSES, presents a sweeping new drama in TITANS. The inhabitants of Texas in the early 1900s were still traveling by horseback and barely familiar with the telephone. Unbeknownst to its residents, an oil boom would spark a period of dramatic change and economic growth. In the midst of this transformative time, Samantha Gordon, the privileged heiress to the sprawling Las Tres Lomas cattle ranch, and Nathan Holloway, a sweet-natured and charming farm boy, find their fates irrevocably intertwined. As changes sweep the rustic countryside, Samantha and Nathan's connection drives this narrative compulsively forward as they love, lose and betray.
According to reviewer Jana Siciliano, "Meacham’s easy-to-read prose helps to maintain a pace that you won’t be able to quit, pushing through from chapter to chapter to find the next important nugget of this dramatic family tale."
My two latest Bookreporter.com Bets On picks are GLORY OVER EVERYTHING: Beyond The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom and LILAC GIRLS by Martha Hall Kelly. Click on each of the titles to see why I’m betting you’ll love these books.
We continue to give away the audio version of GLORY OVER EVERYTHING (read by Santino Fontana, with Kyle Beltran, Madeleine Maby and Heather Alicia Simms) in this month’s Sounding Off on Audio contest, along with AS TIME GOES BY by Mary Higgins Clark (read by Jan Maxwell). Let us know by Monday, May 2nd at noon ET what audiobooks you’ve finished listening to for your chance to win both prizes.
In this week’s Spring Preview contests, we gave away A CERTAIN AGE by Beatriz Williams, FEVER AT DAWN by Péter Gárdos, and ONLY BELOVED: A Survivors' Club Novel by Mary Balogh. This year’s feature wraps up next week with our final four contests: the prizes will be THE ATOMIC WEIGHT OF LOVE by Elizabeth J. Church (one of our bookseller readers, Nancy Simpson-Brice, has raved about this one at Winter Institute), DESIGN FOR DYING: A Lillian Frost & Edith Head Novel by Renee Patrick, HEX by Thomas Olde Heuvelt, and MAESTRA by L.S. Hilton. The first contest of the week will go live on Monday, April 18th at noon ET.
Meanwhile, our 11th Annual Mother’s Day Contest has only just begun! We’re giving you until Monday, May 9th at noon ET to enter to win one of our five prize packages, which includes all nine of our featured titles and other assorted goodies, to give to yourself or to Mom. Click here to see the book prizes and fill out the entry form.
We’ve updated our History Books roundup for April. Included this month are books about Ronald Reagan, Theodore Roosevelt, the Lusitania and the Battle of Waterloo, in addition to BRILLIANT BEACONS by Eric Jay Dolin, a history of American lighthouses that Greg, a lighthouse enthusiast who created this feature, is looking forward to reading.
The Major League Baseball season is in full swing, and with it comes a number of baseball-themed books releasing this spring. Our reviewer Ron Kaplan, an avid MLB fan, takes a look at three of these titles in his latest roundup: STEALING GAMES: How John McGraw Transformed Baseball with the 1911 New York Giants by Maury Klein, THE SELLING OF THE BABE: The Deal That Changed Baseball and Created a Legend by Glenn Stout, and KINGS OF QUEENS: Life Beyond Baseball with the ’86 Mets by Erik Sherman.
Do you remove the dust jacket (the detachable outer cover) when you read a hardcover book? That’s our latest poll question; click here to weigh in. Our previous poll asked: Do you try to reach the end of a chapter before setting aside a book to do other things? The majority of you (58%) prefer finishing a chapter before taking a break, while only 9% of you are able to stop in the middle of a chapter and go back to the book later. Click here for all the results.
We have a new Word of Mouth contest up and running. Let us know by Friday, April 29th at noon ET the books that you’ve finished reading, and you’ll have a chance to win ELIGIBLE: A Modern Retelling of Pride and Prejudice by Curtis Sittenfeld and THE LAST MILE by David Baldacci (both of which we’ll be reviewing next week). The book that seemed to show up most often this contest period was THE CURIOUS CHARMS OF ARTHUR PEPPER by Phaedra Patrick, which will be in stores on May 3rd. Winners of our recent Sneak Peek contest were given the chance to read an advance copy of the book and comment on it; you can read their feedback here.
The American Booksellers Association has announced the winners of the 2016 Indies Choice Book Awards and the E.B. White Read-Aloud Awards, which were voted on by independent booksellers nationwide. Click here for all the winners and finalists.
News & Pop Culture:
Doris: “I am a Bookreporter newsletter fan for many, many years, and I really enjoy reading the newsletter every Friday night or sometimes Saturday morning. I noticed in last's week newsletter a picture of a Vogue coloring book, but the picture was unfinished. I have just bought myself one, too, as they say coloring is supposed to be very relaxing and calming. Just wondered what your thoughts were.” I have tried coloring, but find that I unwind more by knitting. It’s still about color and about using a creative part of my brain! Plus, I can do it without looking so I can multitask and watch a show or movie at the same time.
CJ: “Have you ever ‘written off’ an author because you feel his or her books are not very good any more? I've done this recently with John Sandford. In my opinion, his last three books were terrible, and I'm not going to read them anymore. Maybe this is a bit extreme, but I would like to know if other people do this. By the way, in the opposite extreme, James Lee Burke just keeps getting better with each book.” So readers, weigh in on this one!
The Masters: Still surprised about the ending of The Masters last week; had really wanted to see Jordan Spieth win. He seemed to be mimicking my miniature golf game on the hole where he quadruple-bogeyed!
"Billions": Ended really well. Great ending line.
Knitting Project for "Game of Thrones" Fans: Take a look at this.
Tax Day: It’s not the 15th this year! It’s Monday the 18th, unless you live in Maine or Massachusetts, where it’s Tuesday the 19th!
Brooklyn: Have the movie on tap for the weekend. Have heard great things about it.
We now have a Senator in the house. Cory won an election to his school Senate representing the Mechanical Engineering Department. He’s a really good and fair negotiator; we always said that he would be a terrific lawyer if he did not have an aptitude for engineering. I'm really proud of him. Greg completed his second curling season, which makes him a “third year.”
Tom’s birthday is tomorrow. Golf will be a big part of the day; I know you must be shocked…and then dinner here at the house with the boys and his mom. The weather looks to be spectacular. I will be reading outside. I finished book seven of my 11 pre-BEA assignment, and I need to step up the pace for getting set for these interviews at the end of April/beginning of May. I confess to doing non-assigned reading; I just get tempted a lot!
Flying back last week, between the plane and the airport curb, I managed to drop or somehow else lose the skirt knitting project that I was working on. Five inches in with hand-dyed yarn and really cool knitting needles. Lovely (not)! Annoying (yes)!
Read on, and have a great week!
Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com)
P.S. For those of you who are doing online shopping, if you use the store links below, Bookreporter.com gets a small affiliate fee on your purchases. We would appreciate your considering this! |
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Featured Review: MILLER'S VALLEY by Anna Quindlen
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MILLER'S VALLEY by Anna Quindlen (Fiction)
Audiobook available, narrated by Brittany Pressley
For generations, the Millers have lived in Miller’s Valley. Mimi Miller tells about her life with intimacy and honesty. As Mimi eavesdrops on her parents and quietly observes the people around her, she discovers more and more about the toxicity of family secrets, the dangers of gossip, the flaws of marriage, the inequalities of friendship, and the risks of passion, loyalty and love. Home, as Mimi begins to realize, can be “a place where it’s just as easy to feel lost as it is to feel content.” Reviewed by Eileen Zimmerman Nicol.
-Click here to read more about the book.
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Click here to read the review. |
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Featured Review: MOST WANTED by Lisa Scottoline
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MOST WANTED by Lisa Scottoline (Thriller)
Audiobook available, narrated by Julia Whelan
When a woman and her husband, desperate for a baby, find themselves unable to conceive, they decide to take further steps. Since it is the husband who is infertile, the heroine decides to use a donor. And all seems to be well. Three months pass, and she is happily pregnant. But a shocking revelation occurs when she discovers that a man arrested for a series of brutal murders is her donor --- the biological father of the child she is carrying. Delving deeper to uncover the truth, the heroine must face her worst fears and confront a terrifying reality. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.
-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read an excerpt.
-Click here for the discussion guide.
-Click here to watch Lisa Scottoline talk about the book.
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Click here to read the review. |
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New Women's Fiction Author Spotlight & Contest: THE VERSIONS OF US by Laura Barnett
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We have 25 copies of THE VERSIONS OF US by Laura Barnett to give away to readers who would like to read the book, which releases on May 3rd, and share their comments on it. To enter, please fill out this form by Thursday, April 28th at noon ET.
THE VERSIONS OF US by Laura Barnett (Fiction)
In one moment, two lives will be changed forever...and forever...and forever.
The one thing that’s certain is they met on a Cambridge street by chance and felt a connection that would last a lifetime. But as for what happened next... They fell wildly in love, or went their separate ways. They kissed, or they thought better of it. They married soon after, or were together for a few weeks before splitting up. They grew distracted and disappointed with their daily lives together, or found solace together only after hard years spent apart.
With THE VERSIONS OF US, Laura Barnett has created a world as magical and affecting as those that captivated readers in ONE DAY and LIFE AFTER LIFE. It is a tale of possibilities and consequences that rings across the shifting decades, from the '50s, '60s, '70s and on to the present, showing how even the smallest choices can define the course of our lives.
-Click here to read an excerpt.
-Click here to read Laura Barnett's bio.
-Click here to visit Laura Barnett's official website.
-Click here to connect with Laura Barnett on Twitter.
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Click here to read more in our Women's Fiction Author Spotlight and enter the contest. |
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Bookreporter.com Bets On: GLORY OVER EVERYTHING by Kathleen Grissom and LILAC GIRLS by Martha Hall Kelly
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GLORY OVER EVERYTHING: Beyond The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom (Historical Fiction)
Audiobook available; narrated by Santino Fontana, with Kyle Beltran, Madeleine Maby and Heather Alicia Simms
I tore through GLORY OVER EVERYTHING: Beyond The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom realizing it’s been a while since I had read a book set before the Civil War. It opens in 1830, and Jamie, who is biracial but passes as white, has fled from Virginia where his parentage has been discovered and is living in Philadelphia society as a wealthy silversmith. He must return to the South to do a favor for a man to whom he owes a great debt, traveling there to rescue that man’s son. This will take him near Tall Oakes and a ruthless slave hunter who has not forgotten him. Escape via the Underground Railroad weaves its way into the story, which is a complete page-turner.
-Click here for more of Carol's thoughts on the book.
-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read a review.
LILAC GIRLS by Martha Hall Kelly (Historical Fiction)
Audiobook available; narrated by Cassandra Campbell, Kathleen Gati and Kathrin Kana
LILAC GIRLS by Martha Hall Kelly is set during World War II. It’s the story of three women whose lives intersect during the war. Caroline Ferriday is a humanitarian; Kasia Kuzmerick is a Polish prisoner in the Ravensbrück camp and is known as “a Rabbit” (you will have to read to find out why); and Herta Oberheuser is a doctor at the camp. Each woman’s story is told in stand-alone chapters. Martha writes such brilliant cliffhangers that more than once I found myself flipping to the character’s next chapter to discover what was going to happen!
-Click here for more of Carol's thoughts on the book.
-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read a review.
-Click here to read an excerpt.
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Click here for more books we're betting you'll love. |
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Bookreporter.com's 11th Annual Mother's Day Contest: Books Mom Will Love
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Mother’s Day is a time to recognize the woman who raised and nurtured us. To celebrate, we're giving you the opportunity to win books and goodies for you or the special lady in your life in our 11th annual "Books Mom Will Love" contest. From now through Monday, May 9th at noon ET, readers can enter to win one of our five prize packages, which includes the books listed below, along with some Mom-themed treats. With books that are moving, uplifting, humorous and informative, look no further than Bookreporter.com for the perfect gift for Mom.
This year's featured titles are:
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Click here to read more about the prize books and enter the contest. |
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Bookreporter.com's Fifth Annual Spring Preview Contests and Feature
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Spring has sprung! We’ve caught the fever --- and it’s being fueled by some wonderful new and upcoming releases. Our fifth annual Spring Preview Contests and Feature spotlights many of these picks, which we know people will be talking about over the next few months. We are hosting a series of 24-hour contests for these titles on select days through April 21st. You will need to check the site to see the featured book and enter to win. We also are sending a special newsletter to announce each title, which you can sign up for here.
Our next prize book will be announced on Monday, April 18th at noon ET.
This year's featured titles are:
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Click here to read all the contest details and see our featured titles. |
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April's History Books Roundup
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April's roundup of History titles includes Nathalia Holt's RISE OF THE ROCKET GIRLS, the riveting true story of an elite group of young women who, with only pencil, paper and mathematical prowess, transformed rocket design, helped bring about the first American satellites, and made the exploration of the solar system possible; THE NATURALIST, Darrin Lunde's captivating new account of how Theodore Roosevelt’s lifelong passion for the natural world set the stage for America’s wildlife conservation movement and determined his legacy as a founding father of today’s museum naturalism; BRILLIANT BEACONS, an epic history from Eric Jay Dolin that traces the evolution of America's lighthouse system from its earliest days, highlighting the political, military and technological battles fought to illuminate the nation's hardscrabble coastlines; and TEXAS RANGER by John Boessenecker, the first biography to tell the full story of Frank Hamer, the lawman who killed Bonnie and Clyde.
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Click here to see our History Books roundup for April. |
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2016 Spring Baseball Titles: John McGraw, Babe Ruth and the '86 Mets
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The Major League Baseball season is in full swing, and with it comes a number of baseball-themed books releasing this spring. Our reviewer Ron Kaplan, an avid MLB fan, takes a look at three of these titles in his latest roundup: STEALING GAMES: How John McGraw Transformed Baseball with the 1911 New York Giants by Maury Klein, THE SELLING OF THE BABE: The Deal That Changed Baseball and Created a Legend by Glenn Stout, and KINGS OF QUEENS: Life Beyond Baseball with the ’86 Mets by Erik Sherman.
STEALING GAMES: How John McGraw Transformed Baseball with the 1911 New York Giants by Maury Klein (Sports/History)
The 1911 New York Giants stole an astonishing 347 bases, a record that still stands more than a century later. That alone makes them special in baseball history, but as Maury Klein relates in STEALING GAMES, they also embodied a rapidly changing America on the cusp of a faster, more frenetic pace of life dominated by machines, technology and urban culture. Baseball, too, was evolving from the dead-ball to the live-ball era --- the cork-centered ball was introduced in 1910 and structurally changed not only the outcome of individual games but the way the game itself was played, requiring upgraded equipment, new rules and new ways of adjudicating.
THE SELLING OF THE BABE: The Deal That Changed Baseball and Created a Legend by Glenn Stout (Sports/History)
The sale of Babe Ruth by the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees in 1919 is one of the pivotal moments in baseball history, changing the fortunes of two of baseball's most storied franchises. More than a simple transaction, the sale resulted in a deal that created the Yankee dynasty, turned Boston into an also-ran, sold the American people on the modern home run era after the Black Sox scandal, and led the public to fall in love with Ruth. Award-winning baseball historian Glenn Stout reveals brand-new information about Babe and the unique political situation surrounding his sale.
KINGS OF QUEENS: Life Beyond Baseball with the ’86 Mets by Erik Sherman (Sports)
Darryl Strawberry, Doc Gooden, Keith Hernandez, Lenny Dykstra, Mookie Wilson, Howard Johnson, Doug Sisk, Rafael Santana, Bobby Ojeda, Wally Backman, Kevin Mitchell, Ed Hearn, Danny Heep and the late Gary Carter were all known for their heroics on the field. For some of them, their debauchery off the field was even more awe-inspiring. But when that golden 1986 season ended, so did their aura of invincibility. Through interviews with these legendary players, Erik Sherman offers fans a new perspective on a team that will forever be remembered in sports history.
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Click here for Ron Kaplan’s 2016 Spring Baseball Books roundup. |
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Special Contest on Teenreads.com: YOU GOT THIS! by Maya S. Penn --- Enter to Win a Copy of the Book AND a Glass Heart Pendant from Maya's Eco-friendly Accessory Line
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From her amazing TEDWomen talk (with more than 1,200,000 views -- one of the top 15 TEDWomen talks of all time!) to a six-minute segment on "The View" in April 2015, Maya Penn is the teen everyone is talking about. Entrepreneur, animator, coder, eco-designer, philanthropist, artist and girls’ rights activist, Penn has written an inspirational handbook for teens and young adults to help them tap into what they are passionate about and offering the steps they need to take to follow their creative inspiration and change their worlds.
On Teenreads.com, we're giving 10 readers the chance to win a copy of Penn's YOU GOT THIS!: Unleash Your Awesomeness, Find Your Path, and Change Your World, which is now in stores. One of these winners will also receive a Spring Garden Heart Pendant from Penn's shop, Maya's Ideas. To enter, please fill out this form by Tuesday, May 10th at noon ET.
YOU GOT THIS!: Unleash Your Awesomeness, Find Your Path, and Change Your World by Maya S. Penn (Self-Help)
YOU GOT THIS! offers a creative blueprint for young adults (and others seeking their way in the world), showing them the tools Maya Penn used to build an authentic, exciting and connected life for herself...and offering her readers ideas to help them do the same. Like THE ARTIST'S WAY for a teen audience, the book presents readers with Maya's extraordinary life story, as well as creative prompts to get them thinking about ways to cultivate that same success in their own lives.
-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read a review.
-Click here to read an excerpt.
-Click here to read Maya Penn's bio.
-Visit Maya Penn's official website and blog.
-Connect with Maya Penn on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
-Watch Maya Penn on TEDTalks and TEDxYouth.
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Click here to enter the contest. |
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More Reviews This Week
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THE OBSESSION by Nora Roberts (Romantic Suspense)
Audiobook available, narrated by Shannon McManus
Naomi Bowes lost her innocence the night she followed her father into the woods. In freeing the girl trapped in the root cellar, Naomi revealed the horrible extent of her father’s crimes and made him infamous. No matter how close she gets to happiness, she can’t outrun the sins of Thomas David Bowes. Now a successful photographer living under the name Naomi Carson, she has found a place that calls to her, a rambling old house in need of repair, thousands of miles away from everything she’s ever known. But the sins of her father can become an obsession, and, as she’s learned time and again, her past is never more than a nightmare away. Reviewed by Jennifer McCord.
-Click here to read an excerpt.
FAMILY JEWELS: A Stone Barrington Novel by Stuart Woods (Thriller/Adventure)
Audiobook available, narrated by Tony Roberts
Stone Barrington’s newest client seems to be a magnet for trouble. A poised lady of considerable wealth, she’s looking for help discouraging the attentions of a tenacious gentleman. But no sooner does Stone fend off the party in question than his client becomes involved in two lethal crimes. With suspects aplenty, Stone must probe deep into his client’s life to find the truth, and he discovers that the heart of the mystery may be a famous missing piece of history, a stunningly beautiful vestige of a bygone era. It’s a piece with a long and storied past and untold value…the kind of relic someone might kill to obtain. Reviewed by Judy Gigstad.
-Click here to read an excerpt.
TITANS by Leila Meacham (Historical Fiction)
Audiobook available, narrated by Brian Hatch and Casey Holloway
Texas in the early 1900s was on the cusp of an oil boom that, unbeknownst to its residents, would spark a period of dramatic changes and economic growth. In the midst of this transformative time in Southern history, two unforgettable characters emerge and find their fates irrevocably intertwined: Samantha Gordon, the privileged heiress to the sprawling Las Tres Lomas cattle ranch, and Nathan Holloway, a sweet-natured and charming farm boy. As changes sweep the rustic countryside, Samantha and Nathan's connection drives this narrative compulsively forward as they love, lose and betray. Reviewed by Jana Siciliano.
THE ARM: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports by Jeff Passan (Sports)
Audiobook available, narrated by Kevin Pierce
Every year, Major League Baseball spends more than $1.5 billion on pitchers. Their import is exceeded only by their fragility. One tiny band of tissue in the elbow, the ulnar collateral ligament, is snapping at unprecedented rates, leaving current big league players vulnerable and the coming generation of baseball-playing children dreading the three scariest words in the sport: Tommy John surgery. Jeff Passan traveled the world for three years to explore in-depth the past, present and future of the arm, and how its evolution left baseball struggling to wrangle its Tommy John surgery epidemic. Reviewed by Curtis Edmonds.
THE LADY WITH THE BORZOI: Blanche Knopf, Literary Tastemaker Extraordinaire by Laura Claridge (Biography)
Left off her company's fifth anniversary tribute but described by Thomas Mann as "the soul of the firm," Blanche Knopf began her career when she founded Alfred A. Knopf with her husband in 1915. With her finger on the pulse of a rapidly changing culture, Blanche quickly became a driving force behind the firm. As Knopf celebrates its centennial, Laura Claridge looks back at the firm's beginnings and the dynamic woman who helped to define American letters for the 20th century. Drawing on a vast cache of papers, Claridge also captures Blanche's "witty, loyal, and amusing" personality, and her charged yet oddly loving relationship with her husband. Reviewed by Rebecca Kilberg.
KING MAYBE: A Junior Bender Mystery by Timothy Hallinan (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, narrated by Peter Berkrot
Los Angeles’s most talented burglar, Junior Bender, is in the middle of stealing one of the world’s rarest stamps from a professional killer when his luck suddenly turns sour. It takes an unexpected assist to get him out alive, but his escape sets off a chain reaction of blackmail, strong-arming and escalating crime. By the time Junior is forced to commit his third burglary of the week --- in the impregnable fortress that’s home to the ruthless studio mogul called King Maybe --- he’s beginning to wish he’d just let the killer take a crack at him. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
DOMINION: The Chronicles of the Invaders, Book 3 by John Connolly and Jennifer Ridyard (Science Fiction/Adventure)
Audiobook available, narrated by Nathalie Buscombe
Syl Hellais and Paul Kerr have traveled through the mysterious wormhole known as Derith, from which no traveler has ever returned. Trapped in a dimension beyond their own, they emerge to discover a universe that has moved on without them. Years have passed, and Civil War rages among the Illyri. Earth is lost to alien parasites known as the Others, and the sinister Archmage Syrene of the Nairene Sisterhood has disappeared into the Sisterhood’s lair --- but not before choosing a new leader with her own plans for the future of her race. Syl and Paul must find a way to change the course of history and save the lives of billions. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE GIRL FROM HOME by Adam Mitzner (Thriller)
Audiobook available, narrated by Jonathan Walker
Jonathan Caine is a true master of the universe when his world comes crashing down, spiraling him into a relentless fall from grace. Devastated, Jonathan returns to his hometown to care for his ailing father and attend his 25th high school reunion, where he becomes reacquainted with former prom queen Jacqueline Williams. Back in the day, Jackie didn’t even know Jonathan existed. Now she is intrigued by the man he has become. But their budding relationship has problems, not the least of which is Jackie’s jealous and abusive husband. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE VANISHING OF FLIGHT MH370: The True Story of the Hunt for the Missing Malaysian Plane by Richard Quest (Current Affairs)
Audiobook available, narrated by Richard Quest
On March 8, 2014, Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared with barely a trace, carrying 239 people on board --- seemingly vanishing into the dark night. Richard Quest, CNN’s Aviation Correspondent, was one of the leading journalists covering the story. In a coincidence, Quest had interviewed one of the two pilots a few weeks before the disappearance. It is here that he begins his account of those tense weeks in March, presenting a fascinating chronicle of an international search effort that, despite years of searching and tens of millions of dollars spent, has failed to find the plane. Reviewed by Alex Bowditch.
ALL TOMORROW'S PARTIES: A Memoir by Rob Spillman (Memoir)
Audiobook available, narrated by Malcolm Hillgartner
Rob Spillman --- the award-winning, charismatic co-founding editor of the legendary Tin House magazine --- has devoted his life to the rebellious pursuit of artistic authenticity. After an unsettled youth moving between divorced parents in disparate cities, Spillman would eventually find his way into the literary world of New York City, only to abandon it to return to Berlin just months after the Wall came down. Twenty-five and newly married, Spillman and his wife, the writer Elissa Schappell, moved to the anarchic streets of East Berlin in search of the bohemian lifestyle of their idols. But Spillman soon discovered he was chasing the one thing that had always eluded him: a place, or person, to call home. Reviewed by Harvey Freedenberg.
DEATH SITS DOWN TO DINNER by Tessa Arlen (Historical Mystery)
Lady Montfort is thrilled to receive an invitation to a dinner party hosted by her close friend, Hermione Kingsley, the patroness of England's largest charity. Hermione has pulled together a select gathering to celebrate Winston Churchill's 39th birthday. But when the dinner ends, one of the gentlemen remains seated at the table with a knife between his ribs. Determined to get to the bottom of things, Lady Montfort and Mrs. Jackson unravel the web of secrecy surrounding the bright whirlwind of London society, investigating the rich, well-connected and seeming do-gooders in a race against time to stop the murderer from striking again. Reviewed by Carly Silver.
DOWN THE DARKEST STREET: A Pete Fernandez Mystery by Alex Segura (Hard-boiled Mystery)
Audiobook available, narrated by Kevin T. Collins
Pete Fernandez should be dead. His life --- professional and personal --- is in ruins. His best friend is dead. His newspaper career is past tense. His ex is staying with him as her own marriage crumbles. On top of that, the former journalist finds himself in the eye of a dangerous storm. He's investigating a missing girl with an unexpected partner and inching closer and closer to a vicious, calculating killer cutting a swath of blood across Miami --- while at the same time battling his own personal demons that refuse to be silenced. Reviewed by Tom Callahan.
THE ORION PLAN by Mark Alpert (Science Fiction/Thriller)
Scientists thought that Earth was safe from invasion. But now an alien species --- from a planet hundreds of light-years from Earth --- is proving them wrong. A small spherical probe lands in an empty corner of New York City. It soon drills into the ground underneath, drawing electricity from the power lines to jump-start its automated expansion and prepare for alien colonization. When the government proves slow to react, NASA scientist Dr. Sarah Pooley realizes she must lead the effort to stop the probe before it becomes too powerful. Meanwhile, the first people who encounter the alien device are discovering just how insidious this interstellar intruder can be. Reviewed by Ray Palen. |
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Next Week's Notables: Noteworthy Books Releasing on April 19th |
Below are some notable titles releasing on April 19th that we would like to make you aware of. We will have more on many of these books in the weeks to come. For a list of additional hardcovers and paperbacks releasing the week of April 18th, see our “On Sale This Week” newsletter here.
BEFORE WE VISIT THE GODDESS by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (Fiction)
Three generations of mothers and daughters must discover their greatest source of strength in one another in this extraordinary journey that sweeps across the 20th century from the countryside of Bengal, India, to the streets of Houston, Texas.
THE BLACKBIRDS by Eric Jerome Dickey (Romance)
As they struggle with their own demons, drama and desires, four best friends who are closer than sisters find not only themselves tested, but the one thing they always considered unbreakable: their friendship.
ELIGIBLE: A Modern Retelling of Pride and Prejudice by Curtis Sittenfeld (Fiction)
Liz Bennet is a magazine writer in her late 30s who, like her yoga instructor older sister, Jane, lives in New York City. When they return to their childhood home in Cincinnati, they discover that the sprawling Tudor they grew up in is crumbling and the family is in disarray.
THE EXCELLENT LOMBARDS by Jane Hamilton (Fiction)
Mary Frances "Frankie" Lombard is fiercely in love with her family's sprawling apple orchard and the tangled web of family members who inhabit it. But change is inevitable, and threats of urbanization, disinheritance and college applications shake the foundation of Frankie's roots.
JOIN by Steve Toutonghi (Science Fiction/Thriller)
A revolutionary technology called Join allows small groups of minds to unite, forming a single consciousness that experiences the world through multiple bodies. But as two best friends discover, the light of that miracle may be blinding the world to its horrors.
THE LAST MILE by David Baldacci (Thriller)
Convicted of killing his parents 20 years earlier, Melvin Mars is counting down the last hours before his execution when he's granted an unexpected reprieve. Amos Decker, newly hired on an FBI special task force, takes an interest in Mars' case, but soon learns that something much larger than just one convicted criminal's life hangs in the balance.
THE LETTER WRITER by Dan Fesperman (Historical Thriller)
When Woodrow Cain leaves North Carolina for New York City, he hopes to start anew by getting a job with the NYPD. In the city, though, he comes into contact with a man named Danzinger. Together, they investigate a mysterious murder that leads them to the center of citywide corruption.
MAESTRA by L. S. Hilton (Psychological Thriller)
By night, Judith Rashleigh abandons the respectable persona of assistant at a prestigious London art house and is a hostess at one of the capital’s notorious champagne bars. Feeling reckless, she accompanies one of the bar’s biggest clients to the French Riviera, only to find herself alone again after a fatal accident.
WAR HAWK: A Tucker Wayne Novel by James Rollins and Grant Blackwood (Thriller/Adventure)
Tucker Wayne’s past and his present collide when a former army colleague comes to him for help. To keep her and her son safe from the assassins who are hunting them, Tucker must discover who killed a brilliant young idealist --- a mystery that leads back to World War II.
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Click here to see the latest "On Sale This Week" newsletter. |
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Our Latest Poll: What Do You Do with Book Jackets?
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Do you remove the dust jacket (the detachable outer cover) when you read a hardcover book?
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All of the time
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Some of the time
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Never
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I do not read hardcover books.
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I usually read library books, so I cannot remove the cover.
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Click here to vote in the poll. |
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Word of Mouth Contest: Tell Us What You're Reading --- and You Can Win Two Books!
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Tell us about the books you've finished reading with your comments and a rating of 1 to 5 stars. During the contest period from April 15th to April 29th at noon ET, three lucky readers each will be randomly chosen to win a copy of ELIGIBLE: A Modern Retelling of Pride and Prejudice by Curtis Sittenfeld and THE LAST MILE by David Baldacci.
To make sure other readers will be able to find the books you write about, please include the full title and correct author names (your entry must include these to be eligible to win). For rules and guidelines, click here.
-To see reader comments from previous contest periods, click here.
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Click here to enter the contest. |
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Sounding Off on Audio Contest: Tell Us What You're Listening to --- and You Can Win Two Audiobooks!
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Tell us about the audiobooks you’ve finished listening to with your comments and a rating of 1 to 5 stars for both the performance and the content. During the contest period from April 1st to May 2nd at noon ET, two lucky readers each will be randomly chosen to win the audio versions of Mary Higgins Clark’s AS TIME GOES BY, read by Jan Maxwell, and Kathleen Grissom’s GLORY OVER EVERYTHING: Beyond The Kitchen House, read by Santino Fontana, with Kyle Beltran, Madeleine Maby and Heather Alicia Simms.
To make sure other readers will be able to find the audiobook, please include the full title and correct author names (your entry must include these to be eligible to win). For complete rules and guidelines, click here.
-To see reader comments from previous contest periods, click here.
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Click here to enter the contest. |
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As always, here are a few housekeeping notes. If you are seeing this newsletter in a text version, and would prefer to see the graphics, you can either read it online or change your preferences below.
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